Canada and the U.S. will square off at Old Trafford in the women's soccer semifinals on Monday. On Sunday, Canadian head coach, John Herdman whipped out the western hemisphere's smallest violin and played a little ditty for the officials.

"One of the big threats we've got to take care of, and what we've paid attention to, is the illegal marking in the box on their corners and free kicks," Herdman said. "Some of the blocking tactics, which are highly illegal, we'll keep an eye on them in the game. We've starting working on that in training without trying to injure our players."

Herdman said he also hopes to "raise awareness" of the issue with game officials when Canada plays the U.S. in the semifinals on Monday at Old Trafford.

"Obviously they're trying to free up a key player, but in a very illegal way. ... The U.S., it's what they do well," he said.

That last line is the best; so passive aggressive.

Canadian soccer apparently has a bit of chip on its shoulder when it comes to the United States. Canada has not beaten the States since 2001 and has only won three games ever. Ever. So, obviously, the Americans are cheating and employing both "highly" and "very" illegal tactics.

This activity, found somewhere on his sliding scale of illegality, is what Herdman considers to be one of the "big threats" to team Canada's success. Just below that on Herdman's list of big threats, of course, is Canada not being as good as the United States.